The Favorite: A Dark Enemies To Lovers Mafia Romance (The Syndicate's Revenge Book 2)

by Mara McQueen

  Oh, no. No, no, no, no.

  The doors swung open right underneath Ava's hiding spot.

  "Your Highness, I heard—" Marcella stopped as she stepped into the blood. "Oh my God. Oh my fucking God."

  The closest assassin whirled around, weapon raised.

  Instinct took over. Ava forgot all about the gun. She jumped down, right behind him.

  She flicked her switchblade open and impaled the thin blade into his neck. Arteries were the same, whether defending or attacking, and Ava was doing both.

  She smelled the blood gushing out of this stranger. Felt his last panicked breath against the back of her hand. The hand which had taken his life. Heard his body thud at her feet, the last sound he'd ever make.

  She'd killed someone. She'd officially taken another human's life.

  Ava whirled around to see Raiden finishing off the last of the assassins—or almost last.

  The one she'd shot crawled through his associates' blood and aimed his gun straight at Ava's head, lightning-fast.

  She barely had time to comprehend she was about to die when Raiden jumped in front of her.

  His body recoiled as the bullet hit him.

  NO!

  His sword hissed through the night one last time as he threw it straight into the assassin's skull.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  AVA

  "You can't die, you can't die," Ava chanted under her breath as she rushed in front of Raiden.

  Her desperate fingers patted up and down his torso. No blood.

  "And I'm not going to die tonight." He smiled down at her and ripped his shirt, revealing his bullet-proof vest.

  It had a singing circle, eating away at the thick fabric. Bullets didn't do that.

  Raiden tugged the vest off him, grimacing at the mark, then threw it to Seleka "Poisoned bullet, like at the wedding. This needs to get to Patrice fast."

  Ava stared at the quickly-forming bruise right above his heart, straight through his dragon tattoo's head.

  But he was okay. He would live.

  "Are you insane?" Ava hissed. "What were you thinking, jumping in front of that bullet? He could have shot you in the head!"

  "If I hadn't, he would have definitely shot you." He leaned his forehead against hers. "Worried about me, were you?"

  Like she never wanted to worry again. There was no point pretending anymore, not after the bloodshed they'd been through. "Yes."

  Raiden sighed in relief, as if he'd been waiting to hear that one word for eternity. "I want to kiss you right now, but we're both covered in those assholes' blood."

  He had splatters all over his cheeks and neck. They were standing in blood. Ava had blood on her hands.

  So much blood.

  "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Marcella chanted from the threshold, sagging against the door.

  "Are you okay?" Ava asked past the bile rising in her throat. Her mind was already shutting down, as if to numb her from what she'd witnessed.

  Marcella stuttered a nod, eyes snapping to Ava.

  "Do you remember—" She gulped. "—what I told you that first day we met? I knew you'd save my life one day, but I never expected it to happen so fast."

  Yes, Ava remembered. Marcella had predicted Ava would bloody her hands for her and she'd had.

  She stared down at her red fingers and swayed on the spot.

  "Are you okay?" Raiden whispered with concern.

  Ava nodded, though she felt anything but okay. Raiden had been right. This had been nothing like killing a deer.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  AVA

  "The guards are all in the interior courtyard. Kimbra and Bethany are keeping them occupied," Seleka said as she climbed back into the room. "They're checking their watches. Expecting something."

  "Good. That means someone else is, too. We can use that," Raiden said, scowling at the bodies. "Check their pockets, one of them has to have a phone or some communication device."

  "Attacking a Brotherhood Princess. Twice! In her room, this time!" Marcella mumbled under her breath as she vigorously wiped the blood off the floors with her pink gloves and an even pinker sponge. Ava didn't know what substance she was using, but it smelled like cinnamon and was grimly magical. One swipe and the floors looked clean.

  "Can you give me another bottle, please?" Marcella squeezed the slimy sponge into the water bucket.

  Ava handed another bottle of the weird substance. Marcella had brought in ten of them. "What is this stuff?"

  "A bunch of acids Patrice mixed to, you know, get rid of the evidence."

  "Why did you bring so much of it?" They'd been heading to a festival, not a killing spree.

  Marcella shrugged. "Just in case. It was a Clan outing, after all."

  Of course.

  "Bingo." Seleka took out a sleek phone from one of the assassins' pockets. "It's locked."

  Raiden rolled his eyes. "Couldn't make it easy on us, could they?"

  How could all of them be so calm when Ava felt like her insides were melting?

  "My cousin can unlock it," she said, though it came out as a croak. At least she could help in this small way. "Toni. She's really good with tech, if anybody can unlock it remotely, it's her."

  "Perfect. Keeping it in the family, too." Raiden nodded at Seleka. "Call Mason, tell him to get over himself, and ask his fiancée for help. Once we unlock the phone, we can send a message to their overlords saying they couldn't attack tonight. We need to buy ourselves enough time to spin this in our favor."

  "How?" Seleka asked.

  Raiden looked straight at Ava. "I'm thinking about it."

  It sounded like he already knew.

  "What are we going to do with…?" Ava gestured around them. They were standing in a nightmare.

  "Get all the details on them, then follow the procedure." He looked at her and sighed, as if someone was yanking out the words from him. "Dispose of the bodies. Nobody can find any trace and we'll act like there's no trace to find."

  Ava nodded as if her body had gone on automatic mode.

  "Let's take their masks off. They can at least do the courtesy of letting us know who wanted us dead."

  Who wanted Ava dead.

  Raiden crouched, yanking off the first mask. "I don't recognize them. Or these weird symbols on their masks."

  "That one's Runagate," Seleka said. "Met him back in Canada ten years ago. What's he doing halfway across the world?"

  "Staining our floors." Raiden clucked his tongue. "What's he doing trying to kill my wife?"

  "Runagates are always in it for the money."

  Raiden shook his head. "Banu and Dima are filthy rich, but not even they have the resources to pay a Runagate to risk killing a Brotherhood royal."

  A horrid silence settled over the ghastly room.

  Raiden rose, fisting the mask. "Banu and Dima are working with someone outside the Brotherhood."

  Seleka frowned. "Why? Who else would care who you married?"

  "I don't know." He sounded furious that he didn't. "Yet."

  Ava slowly approached the man she'd killed. She'd done the deed, now she had to face it.

  She was powerless to stop the trembles in her hands as she lifted off his mask.

  She froze. Nothing but a soul-wrenching gasp escaped her.

  "What's wrong?" Raiden crouched right next to her.

  Ava was shaking and she couldn't stop it.

  She knew this face. Had cursed it over and over again for the past year. The peppered goatee. The scar above his right eyebrow. The sparse eyelashes.

  "This is one of the men who came to take me after my parents died," she breathed out.

  She heard the words. Knew they were true. But she still couldn't believe it.

  Raiden's face turned sharp. "This man's Syndicate?"

  "Was. I saw him at my wedding, too."

  Raiden jerked his chin at Seleka. "Tell Mason Toni can't know who this phone belonged to or what happened here tonight."

 
Ava narrowed her eyes at him. "I trust my family."

  Raiden's nostrils flared as he pointed to the wretched man who'd tried to ruin Ava's life twice now. "Really?"

  "I trust my cousins." As far as she was concerned, they were the only family she had left. On the Syndicate side, at least. "We can take a picture of his face. They'll know who he is and who he runs with."

  "Right now, I don't trust your cousins." Raiden rose. "And we're not sending anyone any evidence, least of all them."

  Ava jumped to her feet. "You know you have a problem with being too suspicious."

  "I know I have a dead Syndicate member in our house, who tried to kill the woman I love,” he said, and shivers raced down Ava’s spine again, even as her heart gave a tug. “I suspect the advisors aren't working alone and I can't think of a person powerful enough to coordinate this. Until we solve that, I'm not taking any chances."

  "I've been waiting for a year," she said, voice breaking. "I deserve to know who killed my parents."

  "You will get your revenge. I promise." Raiden's face softened as he took her in.

  She took a deep, centering breath. “Okay. Don’t make me regret trusting you with this.”

  “I swear I won’t,” he said, sincerity coating every word. “Let’s finish with this room so you can go rest. Seleka and I will dispose of the bodies.”

  "There's a spare bedroom you can sleep in. I got it ready when we came in case…" Marcella trailed off, looking at Raiden.

  In case Raiden would've dropped by and Ava didn't want him in her bed. Marcella was a sweetheart.

  "Just make sure you complain tomorrow about this room being too cold," Raiden said. "Loudly, so the guards can hear."

  Ava stared at the gore around them. "But I—"

  "I'm serious, Ava," he said calmly. "We all had to take a breather after the first time we witnessed something like this. You need to rest and process this. I'll come after you when we're with our “guests”."

  After a few moments, Ava nodded and picked up a sponge. She did need to rest. Because her body was numb, but her mind reeled.

  Who would send a Syndicate member to kill her?

  Chapter Forty-Four

  AVA

  Ava didn't hear or see him come in.

  Raiden was as silent as the early morning shadows. But she felt him the moment he stepped inside the room.

  The bed dipped as he lay down gently, smelling of the same rosemary soap Ava had found in the bathroom; she'd washed herself raw to rid her body of this night.

  "I told you to sleep," he whispered.

  Ava kept staring at the red silk dangling from the canopy, like she'd been doing for the past three hours. "Can't."

  Raiden sighed and draped a hand over her waist, pulling her into him until their faces almost touched. "How are you?"

  "Honestly?" Ava licked her lips.

  She'd been going over what had happened again and again. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, her heart knew the truth. Or her truth at least.

  "I killed someone tonight. I should feel guilty about it." She took a deep breath. "I don't. I really, really don't."

  That man, whatever his name was—had been, Ava—had dragged her out of her house before burning it to the ground while she'd pleaded for him to stop.

  He'd come back to kill her now.

  He'd almost shot Marcella just because she'd had the misfortune of walking into a room.

  He deserved to be turned to mush by worms. Though after Patrice's concoction was done with him, Ava doubted even the creepy crawlers would want a piece of him.

  Raiden's brows furrowed. "Then what's the problem?"

  "Shouldn't I feel guilty about it?"

  It sounded even more insane said out loud. Ava hadn't been raised to be cruel. She'd been shielded from the Underworld most of her life. One year back and it had slithered into her heart. She didn't want to let it consume her.

  "Who says you do?" His voice wrapped her up, soothing her.

  "Common decency? Some kind of moral compass I'm lacking?" She snuggled closer to Raiden. She couldn't help it. She wanted to feel his breath against her lips. Feel his heartbeat. He'd almost died tonight. For her. "Do you feel guilty about killing people?"

  "No," he said simply. "I used to. Once, after I took a life the first time."

  He touched their foreheads together again. "One of my governesses tried to choke me, right there in the palace classroom. I was eleven. I'd already begun training so I desperately grabbed a pen and shoved it into her eye socket. I got lucky, then I felt guilty, then I stopped caring. Still can't wear a bloody tie because of her."

  Ava didn't know who this governess was, but she wanted to strangle her right back. No wonder Raiden had suspicion running through his veins.

  "How do you stand it now?" she asked.

  He twirled a lock of her hair between his fingers, keeping his eyes on her. Ava liked this comfortable lull between them. It felt like they were cocooned from the rest of the world and everything that mattered was him and her.

  "I know I save more lives than I take, and that's enough for me. I can sleep at night just fine." His fingers grazed her cheek so softly, Ava thought she was dreaming this entire conversation. But she wasn't. Raiden was in bed. With her.

  "You saved Marcella tonight and you're going to save many more throughout the years. Isn't that what you wanted from the start?"

  So he remembered—and he believed she could do it. "Yes, I do. I also want revenge."

  For her parents. For herself. For anyone who was at the mercy of men with too much power.

  If she had to cut the Underworld in two until she'd bleed them out, then she would.

  "Then congratulations, you've already started tonight." He smiled lazily. "This is awful pillow talk."

  Her heart skipped. "Is this pillow talk?"

  "Never been together in a bed before, have we? Maybe talking about assassinations is our idea of romance."

  She bit her lower lip. "Is this how our lives are going to go from now?"

  He sighed deeply and looked at her for a long time.

  "After we get rid of Banu and Dima and whoever's helping them," he began slowly, a bit hesitant. "We'll be as safe as two Clan royals can be. In the interest of not lying, I can't promise you nobody will try to hunt us down again. It comes with the job description. I—" He licked his lips, jaw working as he forced the next words out. "I understand if you still want to leave."

  Honestly? She wasn't all that sure she'd wanted to in the first place.

  She'd needed to get away from him when she thought he saw her as nothing but a Clan obligation. But he hadn't, had he? He'd played his role so well, she'd believed him. How had Banu and Dima seen through it?

  Maybe they hadn't. Maybe they wanted her gone just in case. Or someone else did.

  Let them come if they wanted her dead so badly. They hadn't succeeded yet, and they wouldn’t from now on.

  Ava wasn't going to spend the rest of her days in fear. She'd been hiding from those menacing what-ifs all her life and all of them had come knocking.

  It was time to start living.

  "I can live with the occasional assassination attempt." A corner of her lips ticked up. "I have a pretty good record of surviving them."

  Raiden pulled her closer, molding his body to hers.

  "I don't know what other words to use to tell you I will protect you," he whispered fiercely, for her ears alone. "But I swear it."

  He didn't have to use words. His actions tonight had proven it. He'd been ready to take a bullet for her. And, heavens help her, she would probably take one for him, too.

  The rest of the world melted away completely.

  She wanted to be closer to him. She wanted him.

  Before the jitters got the best of her, Ava kissed him.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  AVA

  Kissing Raiden while she was furious and kissing him when she wanted nothing more than to be cradled in
his arms were two very different things.

  That deep, insatiable craving was still there. Tingles still rushed up her skin wherever he touched her. Arms, waist, thigh, neck. Everything felt on fire.

  But a nagging thought wouldn't let her enjoy every brush of his lips, every lick, every small bite.

  What if—and it wasn't that big of an if, sadly—she wouldn't be all that good at this sex thing?

  Raiden'd had women throwing themselves at him his entire life. Ava'd had...her imagination.

  And she'd imagined some very wicked things she was dying to try, but what if she did them wrong?

  You're crazy. Just enjoy.

  Yes, yes, good idea.

  She pushed Raiden down and straddled him. He watched her every move with a devilish smile on his face, waiting to see what she did next.

  Ava had no clue, but she wasn't stopping.

  Clothes. She needed to get rid of clothes. His, preferably.

  She yanked off his shirt, revealing his muscles and tattoos. Even when Ava had wanted to hate him, she'd dreamed about seeing him shirtless again.

  She ran her fingers down the dragon's head gently, circling the purple bruise right above his heart. He could have died tonight.

  Ava shook her head. He hadn't. He was breathing heavily under her, hands fisting in her gauzy nightgown like he wanted to rip it. He was watching her with an intensity that almost made her melt then and there.

  She dipped her head and licked up his neck, catching his earlobe between her teeth. She'd loved it when he'd done it to her, and from the way he groaned low in his throat, he liked it, too.

  But she couldn't stop herself from asking, "Is this okay?"

  Raiden stared at her confused. "Is this—?"

  He moved lightning fast, catching Ava's arms behind her back, and raising himself until their chests touched.

  "You have no idea what you do to me, do you?" He flexed his hips. Ava gasped. She could feel all of him against her center. "But I'll be more than happy to show you."